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Friday, November 09, 2007

experience/light

Last night my mom called me as I was preparing to go to my entrepreneurship class to ask me if I wanted to join her and some friends at SF MOMA. I've been dying to see the Olafur Eliasson exhibit since I first read about it and saw the banners on the streetlamps here in SF. So I sent a little note off to my teacher to say that I was sick along with my homework and off I went to experience art.

His art propels one into experiencing an environment, and certain elements of an environment in particular, thereby encompassing the person experiencing art into the art itself. It's a very compelling and emotional show. At times I felt like I was at Burning Man. Eliasson is genius at his installations and architectural design. Looking into some of the mirrored reflections of myself, I could actually see the strong personal connection he has to his work. It was breathtaking.

Most breathtaking of all was the 360 degree room for all colours. I walked in to see people standing close to the wall, looking slightly hypnotized. I walked right up to the wall and did the same. All of a sudden, the light consumes your peripheral vision, and you feel like you are enveloped in hues of yellow, orange, blue, pink, green, purple and white. What struck me was how my body physically reacted to the changes in color. Pink and orange gave me butterflies, like I was seeing a boy I had a crush on. Whereas blue made me feel serene and reminded me of when I was scuba diving and would float weightlessly into the abyss. I let the emotions roll through me as the light entered and passed through my physical being like a drug. I could have stayed there and experienced the permutations for hours.